Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcvax!ukc!dcl-cs!aber-cs!cjp
From: cjp@aber-cs.UUCP (Chris Price)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Portfolio sounds great but...
Summary: ...better Writer's notebook already exists
Keywords: Portable computers, Z88
Message-ID: <935@aber-cs.UUCP>
Date: 13 May 89 20:25:08 GMT
References: <890509.17325439.078728@SFA.CP6> <24235@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: cjp@aber-cs.UUCP (Chris Price)
Organization: UCW,Aberystwyth,WALES,UK
Lines: 32

John Kawakami writes about portable word processors:

> I'd suggest to Atari (or anyone) to build a Writer's Notebook, with a full
> size keyboard, at least 10 inches wide, with an 80 column screen (at 
> least six lines should be fine).  It would fold over, like the Folio.
> Plus, it would come with a simple word processor, and some way to get data
> to the outside world (probably an RS232-C port).  No drive is necessary.

Apart from folding over, this machine already exists - the Cambridge
Z88. Jerry Pournelle reviewed it in Byte a few months back. He lost
all his work on a trip through doing silly things, but still said that
he was going to try it again and would write some more about it (I
haven't seen the follow-up). I took one on a three week business trip
some months ago, and wrote a book chapter. I also produced a 7 page
trip report on the day I returned (an unheard-of occurrence at our
institution). The Z88 has a full-sized keyboard, but is the size of a
pad of A4 paper (11x8x0.5 inches). Where most portables are an extra
piece of luggage, I carried the Z88 in my rucksack without even
noticing it. 

It's a shame that they seem to cost twice as much in the States as in
Britain, or I think they would be a lot more common over there. Cost
in the UK is 200 pounds for the basic machine, 400 pounds for a
serious system with 128k of RAM, 128K EPROM, EPROM eraser, carrying
case, transfer software to run on your non-portable machine etc.

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Chris Price, Department of Computer Science, University College of Wales,
             Aberystwyth, Dyfed, SY23 3BZ, United Kingdom.
email: cjp@uk.ac.aber.cs (within UK) cjp@cs.aber.ac.uk (rest of world?)
Telephone: 0970-622444
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